Marketing Maven Test:

Q: According to a 2004 Forrester Research study what type of advertising was trusted the most by consumers?

A: Click here for the answer

First Impressions Can be Everything - How to Make Them Memorable

by Paul Schwartz

Building trust and loyalty in your market is an on-going process that can generate greater profitability for those organizations who have a loyal customer base (see Marketing Maven Test). This process starts early on, at the prospect stage, were you work so hard to get a prospect to take notice of your products and services. What are you doing to help build trust and credibility with your prospects?  What are you doing at these critical first stages that will allow you to stand out from your competition?

If your not sure, here are a few tips to get prospects to notice you, and start the trust-building process by offering some real value to help convert prospects into customers:

The First Contact: You have all these leads from trade shows, or prospects have given their highly sought after email address and are ready to hear from you.  Do you just put them into a database will all other prospects and send out your standard literature or company news?  Even worse, do you collect their info and do nothing with it for six months?  A prospect has just given you their all important contact info and their anticipation is highest at this point, so make the first contact special.  Don't send them something telling them how great you are, help them build a strong connection with your company by offering value right out of the gate:

• Thank them for visiting your booth or agreeing to receive communication from your company and reinforce your Privacy Policy by stating that their information will not be shared with others.

• Send them information on how to make the best use of their time on your website, such as special sections that might be of interest based on their industry or area of interest. 

• Outline the resources (newsletters, white papers, FAQ's, blogs, case studies, etc.) you have available to make their life easier and how to get them. 

• Consider a "best-of" tools and tips taken from information that you have provided over the years. 

• Ask them to take a short survey asking for their feedback regarding industry trends and include an offer to send them the results when the survey is completed.  

• Let them know who their local rep is and how to contact this person. 

• Offer a small discount or free add-on with their first purchase as a way to get them started.

Consumers receive more than 3,000 advertising messages per day, so you need to do something to get noticed. But it's not just about getting noticed, it's about building trust.  One way to do that is to make sure all subsequent communication offer something of value to your prospects.  Remember, your not just closing a sale; your opening a relationship and the relationship really starts before the first sale.

Want to know more about establishing stronger connections with prospects and customers, and promoters?  If you are ready to build greater trust and loyalty with your market, please contact us for an introductory discussion to see how CONGRUITY can help strengthen the relationship you have with customers.  Please visit us on the web at www.congruity.biz

Copyright © 2004  CONGRUITY.

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